About

$5,000

pledged of $4,300 goal

49

backers

Childhood Machine: The Movie!

Hello! We are the Whiteman Brothers - Sean and Christof Whiteman - and we are spearheading this campaign to fund the production of our sixth feature length film: Childhood Machine. Principal photography will take place in Portland, Oregon in the summer of 2011. Principal actors include Ed Pansullo (Repo Man, Searchers 2.0, Sid and Nancy, Straight To Hell), newcomer Rachael Maier, and the two of us yucksters.

Childhood Machine is a film both serious and silly, both narrative and experimental, and one that will further establish our frenetic filmmaking style. Half of the film will be scripted and the other half will be composed of improv-based reactions to the outside world. The culminating narrative/documentary hybrid will be an energetic, roaming, and precise examination of what it takes to go for the jugular!

Cast of Characters:

Childhood Machine (played by Christof Whiteman):Enigmatic prodigy of invention who devotes his life to building his namesake: the childhood machine.

Essence of Goodman (played by Sean Whiteman):Young man who spent formative years obsessively re-watching season one of ABC's Roseanne.

Equinox (played by Ed Pansullo):Man pursues two interests. First, he pursues the life of an educated man. Second, he pursues the life of a squirrel.

Memory Foe (played by Rachael Maier): After having lived one moment particularly well a young woman struggles to match it with day to day life. She develops an antagonism with the very notion of recollection.

For the film's production the narrative will be creative using open-ended improve. To avoid the atrophy that comes with rigid parameters, we will utilize "the moment" as a key ally in the production. In fact, we'll be further exploring the style we established with our short film Peekaboo Rose - a film written, shot, and edited in a three day span. Despite (or maybe because of) the stream-of-consciousness shooting process, that film ended up feeling more inspired and cohesive than many of our more narrative-driven projects.

Cinematic Style

If you're wondering if we're legit or mere scoundrels working the short-con check out our REEL. It should provide evidence either way. And for whole examples of our work make sure to visit our website: (www.whitemanbrothers.com)

The goofiness we hope to accomplish with Childhood Machine will be played with a straight face and the serious parts will never take themselves too seriously. This is an important distinction. As filmmakers, we take special care to avoid falling into artsy black holes - the type which lead audiences to disengage and start checking their text messages. This type of project could be vulnerable to such black holes, so we will be even more careful to avoid indulgences. We believe in experimentation, but we also believe that it takes an engaged audience to act as legitimate subjects for our experimentation. That said, we always reserve the right to go formally bonkers based on the kinds of engagement we wish to initiate.

Budgetary Considerations

This type of experimental project wouldn't be possible without the creative liberties that come with pursuing independent financing. We typically fund our own films for this very reason. Our ordinary process consists of clawing and scratching for extra nickels over the course of the year, living frugally throughout, and then blowing all the savings on our summer movie. This year, our summer movie needs more than nickels. To make the leap to legitimacy we've put together our budget based on the following needs:

SET DECORATION -- The bulk of the scripted action occurs in the workshop of our titular character. As a result we need budget enough to make a basement look like the lair for an enigmatic inventor.

TRANSPORTATION -- We are flying in actors and will be perpetually roaming around the city of Portland.

EQUIPMENT -- Part of making the leap from no-budget to low-budget film making is using the appropriate equipment. We have the camera(s), but we need to rent and/or purchase specific essential items like: light kits, sound equipment, camera gear, and hard drive space.

CATERING -- Guys and gals gotta eat. We may not be able to pay the actors, but we can at least feed them.

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL -- Festival-ready copies of the film along with promotional posters and post cards.

PROPS/COSTUME/WARDROBE -- Pretty self-explanatory and pretty important to filling in the gaps of a creative world.

Moment of Truth...

If you liked the sound of any of that, and decide to help us out with the project, we'd be in your debt. Take a gander at our incentives and see if there's anything you like! We look forward to keeping you up to date on our progress.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $35 or more
About $35

Childhood Machine Mystery Grab Bag!
What's in the bag? Treasure? Trash? I'll never tell! (But, no, it's not trash.) Find out... if you dare.
Buy multiple: each one is unique and assembled by hand with loving care!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

Have you always wanted someone to write a song about yourself? One of our composers, Tyler Centanni, will be making his services available for five generous souls. Help our film and be a part of his historic project at the same time! Tyler has a wide range of styles under his belt, and you'll have your chance to face him in your preferred direction. Check out childhoodmachine.com for more details.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $350 or more
About $350

This one is a doozy. The Reservations, a local music outfit, (composed of members from Mattress, Of Montreal, and Lil Lord Fontleroy) have been generous enough to donate an original song for one lucky backer. They describe their sound as "music for the night janitor at the morgue" and that is an apt description (despite failing to mention how catchy and rad they are). They will be contributing music to the finished film as well.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $3,000 or more
About $3,000

Executive Producer credit in the film plus a Whiteman Brothers' DVD 3-pack (see above), your memory in the movie (see above) and a calligraphed Thank You note from Christof. (Your new title of Executive Producer makes you very interesting at dinner parties!)